MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... July 20, 2005 July 20, 2005 July 20, 2005 July 20, 2005
A Ticker Homework Assignment
Tonight, on the 36th anniversary of our first lunar visit, we'll see a full moon. But we may not see it truthfully. In fact, the full moon may mess with our minds tonight.
Throughout the course of humanity, we have pinned many natural and supernatural events on the moon. It circles the earth unassumedly, yet assuming an enigmatic spectrum of human roles. The moon is so precisely reliable that it underpins many cultures' calendars, yet so mysterious that we connect it to werewolves and vampires lurking in our collective psyche.
We just aren't quite able to exactly define our celestial attendant.
Its existence is tangible enough to tug at oceans, so we've blamed it for pulling the tides of our minds (we didn't invent the word "lunatic" by coincidence). The orb has inspired poems, prose and prayer from a race wondering why in the heck it exists. Naturally, it is the first otherworld we troubled to visit, using our very best mathematics and engineering ... yet we retained enough of our natural lunar intrigue to quarantine the returning astronauts for possible "moon germs".
The moon is one of humanity's ongoing mysteries. How can something so predictiable be so perplexing? How can the moon seem so serene, despite its violently battered surface? How can a silent rock, throughout the history of mankind, rise to rhymes and rites, then set to songs and sermons?
Here's another enigma. Have you ever noticed that the moon looks so much bigger on the horizon than it does in the sky? How many times have you said to yourself "Wow! What a big moon!" as it inches above the trees?
Well, even that phenomenon is mysterious. Most of us (Ticker Staff included) just assume this is some artifact of optics, a distortion by the atmosphere that magnifies its image. But it is no such thing: in fact, the moon near the horizon is the same angular size (it takes up the same amount of sky) as when it rides high!
You can see this for yourself tonight. Shortly before sunset, the full moon will appear on the horizon of the eastern sky. Hold your thumb at arm's length toward the rising moon. Notice how big the moon is compared to your thumb. Then try it again several hours later. The moon will be the same size relative to your thumb! But most of us, when not using our thumb, will "see" the moon as much larger upon moonrise.
It's uncanny! And we can't repoduce the effect with cameras, video, artwork, print, other media. Our brains aren't fooled by these devices. The illusion happens hen we are standing on the earth looking at the moon.
Why is this? Well, as one would expect with the moon, the answer:
1. isn't completely understood. 2. involves psychology.
There are several competing theories, but the illusion is certainly produced somewhere in our minds. It may have something to do with the way our brains assign distance to an object, or it may have something to do with how our minds are overwhelmed by the moon's largeness.
But this much is clear: the moon still enjoys its special and mysterious relationship with our psyche. It still perplexes today's psychologists, puzzling the minds that solve the mind's puzzles.
So, as you complete your Ticker homework assignment tonight, keep in mind you're the latest of a cast of billions. Regardless of the topic at hand - tides, ails, ills, luck, or optical trickery - billions before you who have looked skyward and wondered "Moon, how did you do that?".
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